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On January 24 at a dinner hosted by the Healthcare Leadership Council for its members, U.S. Representative Greg Walden (R-OR), the new chairman of the influential House Energy and Commerce Committee, spoke of his panel’s goals for the upcoming healthcare overhaul. CQ Roll Call published the following article based upon his prepared remarks.

Energy and Commerce Chairman Greg Walden was poised Tuesday night to outline to health care industry executives his panel’s strategy for repealing and replacing the 2010 health care law, including insights on his plans to overhaul Medicaid.

The Oregon Republican planned to use his closed-door meeting with the Healthcare Leadership Council to discuss several measures his panel would consider in the coming weeks, according to prepared remarks obtained by CQ Roll Call.

A pair of hearings to be scheduled for late next week will center on stabilizing the health insurance marketplaces and on Medicaid. Walden is working with Senate Finance Chairman Orrin G. Hatch of Utah on changes to Medicaid, which provides health insurance to more than 73 million Americans.

Walden planned to confirm during his speech Tuesday night that Republicans will model their legislation largely on a repeal bill President Barack Obama vetoed last year.

“We will use our 2015 reconciliation bill as a starting point in order to repeal major portions of Obamacare, such as the individual and employer mandates, and address the Obamacare Medicaid expansion and the failing exchanges,” Walden’s prepared remarks say. They also say a “stability period” would be included in the legislation.

Walden also is expected to say that Republicans will “maintain protections for those with pre-existing conditions” and permit children to stay on their parents’ insurance plan until age 26, two provisions in the current law (PL 111-148, PL 111-152) that President Donald Trump has voiced support for keeping in a replacement plan.

In his prepared remarks, Walden calls on the Healthcare Leadership Council to engage publicly in the health care debate. The group includes executives from hospitals, insurers, pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufactures and other industries.

“We can’t do this alone. But by working together . . . we can reach our mutual goal of helping people live healthier lives and giving every American a new opportunity to get affordable health care coverage,” Walden will say, according to the prepared remarks.

Changes to Medicaid

Walden’s remarks don’t detail how the GOP would address the 2010 law’s Medicaid expansion, but he confirmed to CQ Roll Call earlier in the day he has had several meetings with Hatch to discuss their legislation on changes to the program.

Earlier this month, Walden organized a meeting between Republican lawmakers on his panel and GOP governors to discuss potential changes to Medicaid. He also attended a separate but similar meeting organized by Senate Finance.

A top aide to Trump said earlier this week the president would propose turning Medicaid into a block grant system. Some GOP governors at the meetings last week, however, suggested a per capita approach that would explicitly require the federal government to incorporate enrollment changes when determining reimbursement rates.

J. Mario Molina, president of Molina Healthcare, told CQ Roll Call both Republican and Democratic governors are likely to push for a per capita approach because it would account for potential increases in each state’s Medicaid population.

“This is going to be a debate between the states and the federal government as to how best to continue this entitlement program while trying to rein in costs,” he said in a recent interview.

Others Republican governors, including Gov. John R. Kasich of Ohio, proposed lowering the Medicaid coverage threshold to 100 percent of the poverty level and allowing people with income above that amount to get exchange coverage. The law’s expansion provides Medicaid coverage for individuals up to 138 percent of the poverty level.